What Was It About Redheads?
by alexceasar
Summary: A person's thoughts while watching someone sleep.
1. Chapter 1: Tara and Gabrielle

Disclaimer: Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and Xenaverse belongs to Robert Tapert

What was it about redheads? Not just any redheads. But redheads that are strong, independent, and brave and willing to kick ass. Redheads that protect others and place their safety before their own; redheads that fight against the darkness, even when it causes them nothing but pain and loss. Why of all the people across all the dimensions was she continually drawn to them? Tara Maclay could not figure it out.

She looked down at the young woman sleeping next to the fire and across from her new friend. So young, so full of life and innocence, though with the path she was starting down, that innocence would not last long. She would see the very worst of the world, the worst of humanity, and the worst of the Powers. She will suffer much on this path she has chosen. She will learn what loss is; loss of family, the loss of a lover, the loss of a child; loss of faith, loss of innocence. She will learn what pain is, pain unlike any she can now begin to imagine. She will learn what it is to be disillusioned with the world, with life and the sorrow involved. She will learn the cost of being a hero.

But on this path she will also learn joy, contentment, acceptance, companionship, a friendship that so few are privileged to experience. Her eyes will be opened to truths that others do not often see. She will see the world and the people in it unlike any so many others of her time. With the stories she writes, she will inspire others to be better than they are. With her actions, she will inspire others to help others. The path ahead of her will be a long one, fraught with danger and sorrows. But it will lead her to her destiny. A destiny fighting for good, to protect those that could not protect themselves.

This young girl sleeping before her reminds her of her lost lover, her beautiful Willow. She too was so young once, so innocent. She too joined her fate to that of a Champion and changed the world with her actions. She too ended up being a person almost unrecognizable from her younger self. How she wishes she could help to prepare her for the journey she was about to embark on. But she could not. For this is what must be, to prepare her. To prepare them both for their destinies as champions for the Powers That Be.

"Sleep well, little Gabrielle, for you will need the rest."


	2. Chapter 2: Oz and Paige

Disclaimer: Buffyverse belongs to Whedon; Charmed to Spelling

What was it about redheads? Not just any redheads, but redheaded witches. Redheaded witches who are strong, independent, and brave and willing to kick ass; that protect others and place their safety before their own; redheads that fight against the darkness, even when it causes them pain and loss. Why of all the people across all the dimensions was he continually drawn to them? Daniel Osbourne could not figure it out.

He looked down at the incredibly gorgeous woman that lay next to him and wished he could help ease her burdens. As the youngest of the Halliwells, she felt such a need to prove herself equal to her new found sisters, the need to prove worthy of joining the Charmed Ones. She struggled with living in the shadow of her sister witch, previously the strongest of them. They never tried to make her feel inferior, it just happened as a result of hearing stories of their courage in the battle against evil. He knew that she felt guilty for seeming to take Prue's place. He tried to reassure her that she was merely joining her remaining sisters in the fight, that a person with Prue's strength and determination to protect the innocent, she would not begrudge her filling that role. As for taking her place with her sisters, she would want all of her sisters to be together, to share the closeness she no longer was allowed, that they should have all had growing up together.

Oz had watched as Paige struggled to balance living her life with learning to be a witch and a whitelighter. As she struggled to find her place in this new world that was opened to her and the darkness that came with it. He watched as she struggled to transition from being alone in the world to having a family to support her. He knew that in time she would be a strong witch and a leader in the war against the darkness. She just had to be patient with herself and she would get there.

Noticing the shiver pass through her, he pulled the sheet higher to cover her shoulders. He could not help but to compare this new love with his last. Another redheaded witch, a Wicca instead of a born witch. Both late in learning the craft and both determined to do so to protect the ones they loved and fight demons. But where his first love was so determined to be strong and do it alone, this one leaned on him when she needed to. This one allowed him to be strong for her. She sought him out when confused and used him as a sounding board when needed. She trusted him to let her know her limits and believed him when he did. She was carefree and wanted to live life to the fullest, where as Willow wanted to learn and watch others. His new love was not afraid to tell him when he was being an ass or when to push him into talking to her. She saw the all of him and loved him. She was the only person in the world that could get him to actually babble.

He could still remember how she looked the first night they met. The full moon so bright, stomping through the woods was no trouble for the man that hunted him. A hunter that did not know he could control his beast. The man was lucky to get a shot in his shoulder. As he lay there dazed, the man standing over him preparing to shoot him again, he saw bright blue dots begin to fall from the sky. They formed the shape of a woman, a beautiful redhead wrapped in a pea coat and wooly hat. She put her hand up and called for the gun. He was stunned when it melted into more blue dots and reformed in her hands. She then returned to blue dots before appearing next to him again. The next thing he knew he was the floor in what he would later learn was her family's attic. In a circle around him were five crystals, which she hastened to explain was just a precaution as she was bringing an unknown werewolf into her family's home on the full moon. She laid her hand on his shoulder and it began to feel less painful. She had healed him. Looking up at her, he thought she was an angel. And she was; she was his angel. Sent by a vision her sister had to save him.

Leaning down he kissed her neck. She rolled over and wrapped herself around him. After a moment, she opened her eyes and smiled slightly at him.

"Good morning, Paige."


	3. Chapter 3: Buffy and Charlie Crews

Disclaimer: Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and Life to Rand Ravich and Universal

What was it about redheads? Not just any redheads, but redheads that are strong, independent, and brave and willing to kick ass; redheads that protect others and place their safety before their own; redheads that fight against injustice, even when it causes them to sacrifice. Why of all the people across all the dimensions was she continually drawn to them, drawn to befriend them? Buffy Summers could not figure it out.

Looking over to the man laying beside her, she thought back to what brought her to this moment. Never would she have imagined on that cold December morning that she would one day be glad to have a man run into her spilling both her and his hot coffee on her new Manolo Blahniks. She could have died right then. Never mind the burns on her feet. For the last month, she had saved every extra dime paid her by the New International Watchers Council that was not used for replacement clothes or weapons to buy these and now they were ruined. There was no way they could have survived such a brutal assault. She wanted to cry. The man who ran into her was telling her how sorry he was and insisted on being allowed to buy her more coffee. She allowed it as she needed time get over the upset before her meeting in two hours. She had just planned on sharing the coffee and then leaving, but once they got to talking, neither one wanted to leave. She found him interesting and enjoyed talking to him. Someone who had no preconceived image of how she was to behave and who she was supposed to be. He enjoyed talking to someone that had now idea of his history or his money. They ended up having dinner together that night and very night she was in Los Angeles for the following week.

Upon leaving LA, she promised to email him. It took a few days for her to work up the courage to contact him. He was glad to hear from her though and wrote back immediately. A week later a package arrived for her at headquarters that Dawn mistakenly opened in front of everyone. Luckily a mini-apocalypse happened that night and everyone quickly forgot that some man had sent her a very expensive pair of shoes. She was on cloud nine for days at the fact that he had noticed how upset she was over losing that pair. And that he cared enough to even notice which ones they were and to replace them. Over the next several months, they talked about everything and anything. She shared her love of clothes and cappuccinos, even about Mr. Gordo. He shared some of the advice from the self help tapes he listened to all the time and introduced her to whole new worlds of fruits. They slowly revealed more about themselves to each other. Their fears, their hopes, their disappointments and their joys.

It was not until almost five months of emailing each other that they met in person again. She was again in LA for a short trip. They spent every free moment they had together. She introduced him to the nightlife and gave him lessons on how to survive it. He told her of his investigation into who framed him for murder. People gave them some looks when seeing them together, mostly figuring she was just arm candy for the rich guy. But she didn't care that he was older than her. He got her in a way her friends hadn't in a long time. He never asked her to be anything other than herself and she returned the favor. They went to museums, parks, the Zoo. Hell, he took her to Disneyland when he found out she had never been. She became the little sister he never had. And he became her brother and the one man in her life that she KNEW would never let her down.

Today proved it. All she had to do was call, call and tell him that she had lost one of her girls, a sixteen year old Slayer originally from Moscow that she had been training as part of her elite team. Within minutes he had hopped on a plane and flew half way across the planet just to be there for her. Her friends did not know how to react to him, to the fact that she had someone in her life that they knew nothing about, and had for the last two years. They did not know how to react to the fact that she had someone she was closer to than them. Frankly, she didn't care. She was tired of living for everyone else. She was living for herself now. So when they Council distanced themselves from the pair at the funeral for her fallen protégé, she had merely held his hand tighter.

And he had proved it when he held her while she sobbed out her sorrow at losing another of her sister Slayers. When he had reassured her that it was not her fault, that sometimes even the best warrior is defeated, that Petra would have wanted to go out protecting others. When he had held her hand and promised that no matter what happened she would never be alone because he would always be there for her, that he would always love her, crazy little idiosyncrasies and all.

Hearing his breathing change, she knew he was waking up. Turning her head to look him in the eye, she grabbed his hand on the bed next to her and smiled softly.

"Good morning, Charlie."


End file.
